In the past two days, including today, Crystal and I both returned to the northern part of Minnesota to finish our Chapter Visits! We were up early to make our first stop at Norman County East High School in Twin Valley, MN to begin at 11:15 AM. To get there in good timing, that meant we left St.Paul, MN at 6:30 AM !The day greeted us with some interesting obstacles beginning with the multitude of snow and Metro traffic. Not even 15 minutes of driving and Crystal's mustang starting beeping meaning, "I have low tires." So we pulled over and I checked the air, and we pulled into a gas station to pump up her tires. 
No big deal!
The rural parts of northern Minnesota have quite the diversity of agriculture ranging from dairy cattle, beef cattle, soybeans and corn to sugar beets, sunflowers, Christmas trees, pheasants and bison. 
Here is a picture of some sunflower fields!
Our timing to Twin Valley wasn't the best because, aside from the winter weather, we encountered construction and detours. We knew we would be later than anticipated, so I called the advisor, Ms. Fickes. Not even 20 minutes from Twin Valley when my friend Crystal said, "Oh look a dog on the road, should we save it ?"
... I say, "No, we need to get to Twin Valley, we are late."
... "But it will probably get hit!"
... "Okay, fine let's pick it up and take it to the nearest farm and then leave."
No big deal!
THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN.
We took the dog to the first house, but he chased us down the highway, so we picked him up again. Then, brought him to another place that knew where he belonged, BUT didn't want to hold him for their neighbor. NEXT, we tried to find the house and went off-roading in Crystal's mustang through mud, dirt and what I would call the worst place to get stuck. Finally, we called the Hawley vet clinic to find the home of this dog and we found it! YES, we are totally late now.
But, this dog reminded me of my own dog. He was a beagle and was unfortunately struck by a car when I was younger. I think about it, and I'm glad we decided to help him because I would hope someone would do the same for my lost dog! ... For the remainder of the trip I wouldn't let go the idea of Crystal's natural rescuing instincts, so whenever we drove by road-kill I would shout, "Animal in need! Pull over Crystal, let's RESCUE it!"
But, this dog reminded me of my own dog. He was a beagle and was unfortunately struck by a car when I was younger. I think about it, and I'm glad we decided to help him because I would hope someone would do the same for my lost dog! ... For the remainder of the trip I wouldn't let go the idea of Crystal's natural rescuing instincts, so whenever we drove by road-kill I would shout, "Animal in need! Pull over Crystal, let's RESCUE it!"We got to NCE high school at 12:00 noon, just when the class ended. Thankfully, we didn't need to be in Detroit Lakes until 6:30 PM, that night, so Ms. Fickes asked us to come back at 2:00 for another class. YES! Crystal and I went out to the "Good Food" diner, and each ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger, Fries and a Chocolate Malt. It was the perfect comfort food for our emotions. On top of the good food, we had excellent service from a sweet old lady and angel. AKA... Audrey Peterson. Audrey grew up in Ada, Minnesota and then married and moved to Twin Valley. She has lived here for the past 42 years. Thank God for her! She made my day a lot better.
*NOTE: All pictures are the product of the 10 second timer on Crystal's camera...
Once at NCE I learned some interesting things about the current Intro to Ag students:
Kareena ... just got a horse the other week for her birthday. She loves animals! Kareena lives and works on her family's beef and hog farm near Gary, MN.
Dylan ... is a young sugar beet farmer from the area. No snow can get in the way of him harvesting this year's over 2,400 acres of sugar beets that were planted! Dylan and I seemed to have a lot in common because we have the same laptop, compete in the same contest and both enjoy reading.
SUGAR BEETS!
Ms. Fickes... is the Agricultural Education instructor for the Sparsely Populated areas FFA Program. She travels from Crookston to Twin Valley to Baudette to teach agriculture to the students. She is a former Sebeka FFA member, Region II officer and competed in the National Forestry contest where her team placed 3rd in the nation.
White snow tastes good, yellow doesn't...
We had a great beginning to our Chapter Visits in Region I! After Twin Valley, we called our North Dakota state officer friends to meet them at NDSU...
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